Okay, Last time we looked at basic right hand slap technique.
Now we will focus on the left hand. We’re going to start with
the octave.
Octaves are the basis of most funk bass playing. An octave is
8 notes above the original note, and has the same letter name.
You can think of octaves much like a drummer would; the root
(starting note) is like the “bass drum” and the octave is the
“snare drum”. By varying the order of the notes and rhythms,
you can create an infinite number of lines without ever leaving
the root!
There are two easy ways to find octaves:
For open string octaves, skip a string and play they second fret
of the next string. For example: to play and open E octave, skip
the A string and play the second fret D string.
To play fretted (closed) note octaves, go up a whole step (2 frets)
from the root, and skip a string. To play a C octave from the A
string for example, you would play the 5th fret G string.
Here are some examples to get you started. The “T” stands for right
hand thumb (see my last column) thumb, and the “P” stands for right
hand pop.
Until next time, Keep Funkin’
John Shaugnessy
Ex1:
G--------------------------------------
D--------2-------------------2---------
A--------------------------------------
E---0-------------0--------------------
T P T P
Ex2:
G-------------5---------------5-------
D-------------------------------------
A------3--------------3---------------
E-------------------------------------
T P T P
“Disco” lick:
G--------------------------------------------------
D----------5-----------2------------3-----------4--
A--------------------------------------------------
E---3------------0----------1-------------2--------
T P T P T P T P
“Flea” lick:
G------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------2---------------------5----------------------7----
A------------------------------------------------------------------
E----0----0-------------0------3------------0--------5-----------0-
T T P T T P T T P T